Ghost Rider: The Visual Guide

by Andrew Darling

A companion volume to the new film based on the popular Marvel Comics character journeys behind the scenes of the movie chronicling the exploits and adventures of motorcyclist-turned-vigilante Johnny Blaze, who is transformed into Ghost Rider, as he takes on Blackheart, the son of the devil himself. (A Sony Pictures Entertainment film, written & directed by Mark Steven Johnson, releasing Winter 2007, starring Nicolas Cage & Eva Mendes)

Genres: Nonfiction, Superheroes

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Book source ~ Library

The history of Ghost Rider told in graphic novel form.

This is quite a lot of Ghost Rider history in one book. In a lot of places it repeats information where the characters overlap, but overall I found this to be an excellent source. Considering I knew next to nothing about Ghost Rider when I started this book I can now say I’m fairly well versed about his back story. Also, the artwork is awesome.

[Michael Beyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love comic books. And this book is a retrospective of the entire Ghost Rider comic book from the 1970's to 2007 when it was published. The comic book itself is a vast and complicated surreal work of art. Some of its creators are giants in their field. Mike Ploog is an incomparable comic-book artist. Roy Thomas, the editor/writer is a comic-book creator behind much of the story-factory that is Marvel Comics that I love most. And there is a multitude of others this book gives credit to for their contributions to Ghost Rider. This is not the best retrospective that I have read and own a copy of. But it is competent. And it is well worth the re-reading.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another one of the DK visual guides this time its the Ghost Rider - I must admit I am no comic book expert (though I would love to be - although it would cost me a small fortune to catch up on what I have missed) I am familiar with the name and the bare essentials. Like many such characters though their back story (and back catalogue) is far more involved than I realised and there is much more to this character than I first thought.
The book is not up to date (it goes as far as 2006 comic wise and to the first film) so I am sure that by now there is much more added to the story (like how he got back out of Hell) but it has given me much to think about and keep an eye out for. The book is thinner than some of the other guides I have read but I think that is from lack of coverage rather than lack of material. This is one comic book character I will be adding to my watch list to see what I can find.